Mark Stone starts 2021 season, captaincy in style in Golden Knights win

By Justin Emerson

Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021 | 11:10 p.m.

A captain is supposed to break a slump, to snap a funk, to get the big goal when his team needs it most. It’s what the Golden Knights anticipated when they put the “C” on Mark Stone’s jersey.

They might not have expected it to happen this fast.

Stone made his debut as the organization’s first captain on Thursday and did so with the kind of flare only found in Vegas. He came out flying in the third with a goal to give Vegas the lead it would not surrender, and for good measure barreled through the defense for an insurance assist as the Golden Knights downed the Anaheim Ducks 5-2 at home to open the season.

“He led the way. That’s why he’s wearing the ‘C,’” Vegas coach Pete DeBoer said. “He has the ability to raise his level at important times and that’s what you want your captain to do at those moments in the game.”

Stone’s goal came early in the third, which promptly followed a lackluster second. In the middle period Vegas didn’t muster a shot until the 7:25 mark and had only six in the frame. The Golden Knights couldn’t get into rhythm, which was doubly disappointing because they had already lost a two-goal lead.

Enter Stone.

He set himself up near the left circle and when Chandler Stephenson’s behind-the-net feed landed on his stick, he spring-loaded his shot far-side on Anaheim goalie John Gibson to break the tie 49 seconds into the third. That held up as the game-winning goal.

“When we get a little bit grittier, cycle the puck, force their defense out of position, that’s when opportunities are created,” Stone said. “That’s kind of what happened on my goal. Stephenson kind of boxes out guys, gets them scrambling around and finds me in the slot.”

Stone wasn’t done, though. It was his effort that set up the next goal, starting with chipping it off the boards to himself to break out of the defensive zone, to driving through the neutral zone to even drawing a penalty while crossing the blue line.

But the penalty was irrelevant — as Stone was going down he flipped the puck over to a waiting Max Pacioretty, who was all alone in front of Gibson. He buried it to give Vegas an insurance goal and a 4-2 lead.

“Great second effort from our leader,” Pacioretty said with a wink at Stone. “Great second-effort play to kind of ice the game by (Stone) there.”

Alex Tuch added an empty-net goal with 14 seconds remaining to ice it. 

What’s impressive about Vegas going up by two goals in the third is that it had already squandered a two-goal lead earlier in the game. Jonathan Marchessault and Tomas Nosek both connected within 2:13 of the initial puck drop and it looked like an easy victory was coming.

It was anything but. The Ducks responded with two goals on their first four shots of the game, both from Max Comtois. They suffocated Vegas for large parts of the second period, bringing the game to a decisive third where it truly felt like it could go either way.

Instead, it was the Golden Knights who suffocated the Ducks, not only scoring the only goals in the third but holding Anaheim to just five scoring chances in the period, according to Natural Stat Trick.

“I thought in the second period we got away from what makes us a good team, which is winning the one-on-one puck battles and getting to our speed,” defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said.

Almost forgotten in Stone’s heroics was that Thursday was Pietrangelo’s Golden Knights debut after signing a massive contract in free agency. He picked up the secondary assist on Stone’s goal and played 25:30 of ice time.

“It just feels like he’s kind of all over the ice,” Stone said. “Blocks shots, jumps in the rush, is the first one back. Just an all-around defenseman.”

The Golden Knights are 1-0 for the third time in four years as an organization, and Stone scored in the season-opener for the second time in as many openers as he’s been here. Twelve Golden Knights registered a point, and Robin Lehner made 20 saves in his first Vegas opening night.

It’s wasn’t a perfect night by any means, considering the lost first-period league and the second period stall. But it was a win, and considering the lack of preseason games or other opportunities to shake off the rink rust, it was good enough, and Vegas will take it.

“What I liked about it was that we lost momentum after the quick start, and we came out in the third period and really dictated the game at the most important time in the game,” DeBoer said. “It’s always hard to get that momentum back, but that’s a sign of a veteran team.”